Double Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will return to racing this weekend when he lines out in criteriums in Oviedo and Alcobendas. While he focuses on those objectives, he said that he is leaving it to his lawyers to decide if he can leave the Astana team and secure a contract elsewhere.
“After all these months of waiting, I am very calm at last,” he said. “My lawyers are the ones that dictate whether it is possible to break my contract or not. I hope to know their opinion as soon as possible, as well as that of experts from the UCI, in order to make a decision.
“Meanwhile, I will keep working as before, focused exclusively on my training. My brother [Fran Contador] is in charge of these other issues."
The Astana team has fought hard to hold onto its star rider, but suffered a blow in recent days when it was told by the UCI that it had not provided all of the necessary paperwork before the October 20th deadline. While it has a further month to get everything right, UCI rules appear to state that riders who wish to leave after this initial date was missed are free to do so.
Contador clearly wants to do just that but, knowing that he is both its strongest rider and also a likely mechanism for securing a ride in next year’s Tour de France, the team said it will do what it can to hold on to him.
"We're continuing to work closely with Mr Alberto Contador who should meet with Mr (Yvon) Sanquer, our future general manager, and Mr (Giuseppi) Martinelli, the future sporting director, in the coming days," a spokesman for the Kazakh federation told AFP."With him (Contador) we're preparing the 2010 season so that he can have a competitive team around him to take up new challenges, as he is committed to doing in the Astana colours."
The Kazakh federation gave their commitment to providing "the missing elements as quickly as possible" in order to obtain a ProTour licence."The backing of our sponsor for the four coming years gives us hope of a very speedy solution," the spokesman added.
However despite those planned talks, it is clear that the Spaniard and those around him see leaving as the best option.
"Our lawyers are studying the details of the UCI regulations to make the right decision in the coming days," said Fran Contador, brother and manager of Alberto Contador.
"Lawyers should clarify whether it is possible to implement the new article introduced last July in the model contract proposed by the UCI for riders to sign with a UCI ProTour team. According to experts, the interpretation of the law can be confusing and we want to be sure before making any decisions."